The present invention relates generally to operations performed and equipment utilized in conjunction with wellbore operations and, in particular, to rigging tools used in wellbore cementing operations.
During a typical drilling operation, the wellbore is lined with casing to maintain the drilled wellbore and allow the passage of drilling fluids, tools, production fluids and other materials into and out of the wellbore. The casing is often assembled by lowering a casing segment into the wellbore, gripping the casing segment and holding it in place using pipe slips or an elevator, connecting a second casing segment to the gripped casing segment, connecting the two casing segments, and lowering the combined segments into the well to repeat the process. This process is also referred to as running the casing. A casing running tool is often implemented to aid this process of assembling and running the casing.
After a casing running operation is completed, a cementing operation is typically commenced to complete the drilling operation. To transition from casing running to cementing, currently, operations that use a casing running tool (CRT) or drive tool to run casing must first remove the CRT or drive tool prior to rigging up the cement stand. This is time consuming, generally taking between 1.5 and 3 hours, and requires additional tools. After the CRT or drive tool is rigged down, only then can the cement head be installed and circulation operations initiated.
While embodiments of this disclosure have been depicted and described and are defined by reference to exemplary embodiments of the disclosure, such references do not imply a limitation on the disclosure, and no such limitation is to be inferred. The subject matter disclosed is capable of considerable modification, alteration, and equivalents in form and function, as will occur to those skilled in the pertinent art and having the benefit of this disclosure. The depicted and described embodiments of this disclosure are examples only, and not exhaustive of the scope of the disclosure.